Fractional distillation of volatiles from solids



Aug. 2, 1960 F. E. HoBsoN 2,947,670 FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION oF voLATILEsFROM soLIns Filed July 9. 1954 United States Patent "i nnitlt-yrloNAL`DlsrntLArroN on vonArrLEs FRoM- sonros- Frank Hobson. Missoula. assigne,man. an ocessing Ine Lewiston, Idaho. a] corporation of.

ano

Filed-July o, 1954, ser. No. mma` 3 Claims@ (Clillzsfzzl My` inventionrelates tp. fractional distillatifin,` ofU volaoeee, of my invention toProvide a.. toellod and apparatus. for fractional distillation; of.odell eolastaooee itl. Snell.

manner as to, dischargethe volatilized substances` at pref determinedtemperatures. that. may oe.- Seleeted e...1.oe ely"to`- approximatethelyolatlizatoo teodoetatoretlaeteof, where,- byto effeet adequatereoaoyal of the volatiles. with minis moot heat reqirelaeots and mioimumretardation of.,

volatilization due losas. preeeoreis die heatnaarea More Speoloally itis the objeet` of. thisu iol/emitan to eXtraet the VolatileoonSt.i.t1.1.eota of. asstesateoof: Solids such as those mentioned, byconningthe aggregates inL a slowly moving stream which fills the spacebetween two conining` sainfaces,` oneof which` moving relatively to theother and relatively to the. streann; increasing the temperature of theaggregates as they move down, and separately removing from.` the streamthe volatile materials of different temperatureranges asfvolatilized,before their temperatures are materially in thet volatile state.

The nature and4 advantages of my.` invention will be made clear fromthe` following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawings` which.`drawings illustrate'diagrammatically the essential apparatus employedin my invention. It should beA understood, however, that the descriptionand .drawings are. illustrative only and iare. not intended to limit thescope vof. the. invention except` insofar as it is limited by the claimsller-einatte,1j4 set forth.

In the drawings:`

Figure l is a diagrammatic view of-an apparatus employed in myinvention;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view at 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the device taken on the line 3-3of Figure l.

In the diagrammatic showing of the drawings, the nu-V meral indicates ahopper from which the aggregate which is to be heated, is delivered intoan annular space 11 at a rate to keep this space lled with material. Theinner Wall of the annular space 11 comprises a tube 12 which iits overan inlet sleeve 13 at its lower end so that hot gases may ow upwardly inthe tube l12. The tube 12 is suspended by a bearing flange 14 upon asupporting member 15 so that the tube may be rotated. The means ofrotation is shown as a suitable gear 16 above the ring 14 and a drivepinion 17 which is driven by a shaft 1S from a power device such as anelectric motor. The aggregate is confined in the space 11 by an outertube 20 which is stationary as shown. An inlet 2'1 is provided to admithot gases around the outer tube 20 and a third tube 23 is providedoutside the tube 20 to form a channel for the hot gases. The upper endof 2,947,670 Patented Aas 2., 126D,

ice

the annular; space between the members, 20 andi 23ar open4 as shown at,2 3q in Figure l to provide for egress ofthe hot gases- "Ihe, hot gasesused to. heat tlledeyloe may be seoeratedin any Suitable manner I`hayefound. ad oil famose quite, Sofdeien't` for the` potpoee- Floee.

(not shown)l extending from thegsouwrce, of thehot gasesr totheeleeve.13 and` opening 21 are p rovidedto "otl'duet` 'the gases tothe retortl-The.. amount, of heat required, of course, depends` upon the naturer ofthe aggregate,

introduced.- into the-retort Any Suitable means esel! as,

the. conveyor 24.1nay be. provided at the. bottone` of the. channel 1,1to remove the assresater fromtloe channel 11 at` 'the desired rate.`

It. will lieA appreeatedthat as the aggregate moy/.es down` itl. the.ohaooel 1.1, itwillbe gradually heated. So that, that portion, of. theaggregate in theA uppermost, Partv of, the

` space 11n, will firstA be; caused to lose the volatile material whichboils at a very low temperature. The body. of aggregate above thechannel 11 acts to hold the` volatilized material against ready eseapeupwardly eo that this volatilef material may be extracted outwardly. Theupper portion of the tube 2.0` is shown as provided with a multiplicityo f outlets 25 in the form of small;y tubes or pipes that empty into acollecting chamber 26; The collecting chamber 26'has a suction device 27connected' thereto to draw o l the gases and maintain a sub-atmosphericpressure in the collecting chamber. The gases are dischargedaintom aconduit 28 from which they may go to a condenser or other knowncollector. At a'lower level'` the tube 240 is.v providedA with anotherseries of outlet tubes` 29 which open into a collecting chamber 30 from,

which the gases are drawn oifby a suction device 31 to a, conduit 32j.Still farther along the channel 11,4

outlets 33- in the tube 20 discharge into a collecting` chamber 3t4which is connected by a suction device 3SV to a tube 3364 and near thebottom portion of the channel 11 outlet tubes 37 connected to the tube20', lead to, a collecting chamber 3:8A from which the gases are drawnout through a suction device 39 and dischargedthrough a conduit 40;

It vis a fundamental principle of physics that to raise the temperatureof matter of any nature, heat is required; Therefore to raise thetemperature of vapor 0r gas of a volatile substance above its point ofboiling or ebullition requiresV additional heat. If in heating theaggregate material, the volatilizng substances are requiredl to remaininw the heated mass until the temperature ref quired tovolatilize allthe volatile substances,` considerable heat is wasted in heating thegasses of Vthe low boiling point substances to the nal temperature. Forexample, consider that an aggregate to be heated contains substanceshaving a boiling point of 1000 degrees F. Assume also that the aggregatecontains an appreciable amount of water, the boiling point of which is212 degrees F. If the aggregate is heated in such a manner that thevolatilized substances must remain entrapped with the aggregate untilthe final temperature is reached, the water vapor generated at 212degrees F. would be heated to the nal temperature of 1000 degrees F. andwould consume unnecessary heat in the amount necessary to raise thevapor 800 degrees F. With my method, the water vapor, being generatednear the top of the channel 11, will be immediately drawn off to 'thechamber.

26 and through the suction device 27. In this Way it is removed fromlthe presence of the aggregate, and from the heat immediately uponvolatilizing and does not consume additional heat. Thus, my method eectsa considerable saving of heat while operating eiciently to distill thevolatile substances from the solids. It will be appreciated, of course,that the conduits 28, 32, 36, and 40 may be either discharged into acommon outlet or to separate scrubbers and condensers where it isdesired to treat the volatile substances separately.

The apparatus is particularly advantageous in the low temperature heattreatment of such material as coal, finely divided wood, oil, shale orsand. VThese materials are in particle form when ready for treatment andwill flow as a continuous unobstructed stream down through the space 11freely without clogging so long as the tube 12 is rotated or moved insuch a manner as to keep the mass of particles from solidifying. Theprovision of the concentric tubes 12, 20 and 23 lends itself readily tothe heating of the granular material in an efhcient manner because theheat is being applied counter current wise and from both faces of thechannel 11. The moving stream of the aggregate which is being distilledor calcined is between two surfaces that conne the stream. One of thesurfaces moves with respect to the other surface and the other surfaceprovides the necessary outlets for trapping olf the volatile material.as it boils out of the aggregate. In this way there is no waste of heatin unnecessarily increasing the temperature of the volatile materialwhich has already boiled out.

While I do not wish to confine myself exclusively to the particularapparatus shown and described, or the manner of assembling the same, Ido consider as my invention the method and apparatus by which thematerial from which 'the volatile component is to be distilled, is movedgradually through a channel as its temperature is increased and thevarious volatile components are extracted from the material at aplurality of temperature ranges which avoid wasting heat and unnecessaryraising of the temperature of the volatile components that separate atrelatively low temperatures. The foregoing method not only avoids theexcessive heating of the ore extracted volatile components, butpreventsthe possibility of further reaction of low temperature volatilesand high temperature volatiles within the distillation channel afterthey have once been boiled out of the aggregate.

It is believed that the nature and advantages of my invention will beapparent from the foregoing description.

Having thus described'my invention, I claim:

1. A method of extracting the volatile constituents of aggregates ofsolid particles which comprises owing the solid particles downward bygravity in a continuous stream between an inner confining wall and anouter coniining wall, keeping said particles in engagement with otherparticles in said stream and maintaining engagement between the Wallsand particles, owing continuous streams of hot gaseous iluid upwardly incontact with and covering said confining walls thereby supplying heatthrough said walls to the solid particles and gradually increasing thetemperature of said particles as they move down between the walls, andwithdrawing the volatilized 4 constituents from the stream of particlesthrough one of the lwalls `and through the gaseous iluid stream coveringit. 2. A method of extracting the volatile constituents of aggregates ofsolid particles which comprises owing the solid particles downwardly bygravity in a continuous stream between an inner confining wall and anouter coniining wall and in intimate contact therewith, keeping one ofsaid walls moving in a direction transversely of the stream, supplyingheat through both of said walls, gradually to increase the temperatureof the particles as they move down between the walls whereby tovolatilize the volatile constituents of said particles having the lowestboiling temperatures near the top of the stream and to volatilize theseconstituents having higher volatilizing temperatures at lower levels inthe stream, and withdrawing the volatilized constituents from the streamthrough the wall that is not moving transversely of the stream atdiierent levels along the height of the stream.

3. A method of extracting the volatile constituents of aggregates ofsolid particles which comprises flowing the solid particles in verticalpaths downwardly by gravity in a vertically continuous unobstructedstream surrounding and engaging an inner confining wall and within andengaging an'outer confining wall, keeping one of said walls moving withrespect to the other wall in a direction to maintain the streams crosssection unchanged, supplying heat through both of said walls graduallyto increase the temperature of the particles as they move down betweenthe walls whereby to volatilize the volatile constituents of saidparticles having the lowest boiling temperatures near the top of theLstream and to volatilize those constituents of said particles havinghigher volatilizing temperatures at lower levels in the stream, andwithdrawing the volatilized constituents outwardly from the stream asthey are volatilized before their temperatures are materiallyv raised inthe volatile state. j

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS yFrance July 12, 1916

1. A METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF AGGEGATES OFSOLID PARTICLES WHICH COMPRISES FLOWING THE SOLID PARTICLES DOWNWARD BYGRAVITY IN A CONTINUOUS STREAM BETWEEN AN INNER CONFINING WALL AND ANOUTER CONFINING WALL, KEEPING SAID PARTICLES IN ENGAGEMENT WITH OTHERPARTICLES IN SAID AND MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE WALLS ANDPARTICLES, FLOWING CONTINUOUS STREAMS OF HOT GASOUS FLUID UPWARDLY INCONTACT WITH AND COVERING SAID CONFINING WALLS THEREBY SUPPLYING HEATTHROUGH SAID WALLS TO THE SOLID PARTICLES AND GRADULLY INCREASING THETEMPERATURE OF SAID PARTICLES AS THEY MOVE DOWN BETWEEN THE WALLS, ANDWITHDRAWING THE VOLATILIZED CONSTITUENTS FROM THE STREAM OF PARTICLESTHROUGH ONE OF THE WALLS AND THROUGH THE GAEOUS FLUID STREAM COVERINGIT.